President Obama signed the $956-billion farm bill on Friday at Michigan State University, where he extolled the benefits of a thriving agricultural sector for the nation’s overall economy. In his remarks, Mr. Obama announced a new “Made in Rural America” initiative that he said would help rural businesses market their goods abroad. White House officials also announced five regional forums on rural exports and an “investing in rural America” conference. Mr. Obama directed the White House Rural Council to host sessions in all 50 states to train Department of Agriculture staff members on how to promote rural exports.

The White House released a report Friday from Mr. Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers that said farm income had risen significantly since the president took office in the depths of the recession. The report says that farm income is expected to total $131 billion in 2013, a 46 percent increase since 2008. Most of the increase is attributed to improved productivity, and the report notes that the values of livestock and crops are rising. One of the most contentious elements of the farm bill was the elimination of $5 billion in direct subsidies to farmers for their crops, whether they grew them or not. The subsidies were replaced by an insurance program that will help farmers only when they need it.

“I haven’t had insurance in years and my husband had a shared insurance junk-type policy. The day I signed up on Dec 10, I actually cried when the application went through. I got my first premium notice in the mail yesterday and was never so happy to see a bill before.”

Gayla W., New Hampshire

“I lost my job last April. My partner and I both have pre-existing conditions so our only option was to COBRA my employer-provided plan — at a cost of $1,676 a month. It was a good plan, but now we have a comparable plan through the ACA for $87 a month. I can’t describe just how life changing this is for us. We can afford to live again.”

There’s a strange notion out there that the dreary outcomes of the two wars this country fought all through the past decade—and the savage sectarian violence erupting across much of the Middle East and surrounding regions today—are due to President Obama’s “disengagement” from the world. It’s a strange notion because the United States is more engaged with the world than at any time in recent memory. There are nuclear talks in Iran (after 34 years of no talking whatsoever), an internationally supervised dismantling of chemical weapons in Syria What many of these critics don’t like about Obama—what they mistakenly, or misleadingly, call “disinterest”—is his disinclination to go to war.

And who can blame him? Obama seems to realize this. He too has an unsentimental outlook on the world. His views have been tempered by Iraq and scorched by Afghanistan. He’s not shy about using military force, but insists, when possible, to grip it tightly. “Escalation” is a suspect term; “uncontrolled escalation,” is an unacceptable one. As evidence, see Libya, Syria, drone strikes, and Stuxnet. One can admire or criticize the actions he’s taken, or not taken, in those crises or with those precision instruments. But they’re all preferable to sending in 100,000 troops in pursuit of a mission that we have no power to accomplish, even with all those men and women in arms. And if going into such conflicts lightly, or not at all, is the emblem of disengagement, let him wear it proudly.

Michelle Obama just turned 50 and she’s looking great. The First Lady is a prime example of how health can help keep you looking and feeling great. With her Let’s Move campaign, Mrs. Obama wants to help all Americans become more aware of the importance of eating healthy and staying fit. This morning she joined the Tom Joyner Morning Show to talk about the Affordable Care Act, one of the most important pieces of legislation in her husband’s time in the White House. The Affordable Care Act makes it possible for millions of uninsured Americans to have affordable health insurance, but there are still some misconceptions about it. The best way for you to start to get more information about how the ACA can work for you is to head to the website, www.healthcare.gov and check out the options for yourself. Here’s why Mrs. Obama thinks it will be the best move you and your family can make this year.

Michelle Obama: We’re talking about education, because as Barack said in his State of the Union address, you know, what we have to focus on, particularly as we celebrate Black History Month, is not just the progress we’ve made but remember how much more work we have left to do. And we need to focus on increasing opportunity for everybody. And for this administration, it means healthcare through the Affordable Care Act. It means economic mobility. It means helping our young men of color. It means making sure more kids have access to college and it’s affordable. So that’s what we’re going to be focusing on, not just this month, but for the rest of this administration, and making sure that people are signing up for healthcare is critical.

If you’ve been paying attention to a certain slice of the financial media—see:Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, CNBC, and Fox News—you know for a fact that Obama and his health care law have tag-teamed with global economic trends to drive America inexorably toward a part-time economy. This is a testable claim. So let’s test it.

The first thing you would expect to see from a Part-Time America is that the number of part-time jobs added would rival the number of full-time jobs added. But in the last year, new full-time jobs outnumbered part-time jobs by 1.8 million to 8,000. For every new part-time job, we’re creating 225 full-time positions.

In September, Adam Schneider, the liberal mayor of the New Jersey shore town of Long Branch, was having trouble with the state utility board. After repeatedly getting the run-around, Schneider decided to instead try his luck with the office of Gov. Chris Christie. “I’m not talking to any more underlings, and I’m not being delegated to,” Schneider said he told Christie’s aides. In the end, he said, it worked. “I got what I needed.”

Schneider’s call came four months after he crossed party lines to endorse the 2013 reelection of Christie (R), whose performance he admired after Hurricane Sandy. Schneider said that the governor never promised him anything but that he believes he has received “enhanced” access to state officials since the endorsement. Schneider’s experience is typical of many Democratic mayors, who made clear that they thought endorsing Christie’s reelection bid likely directly benefited their towns in the pursuit of Sandy recovery aid and other state support.

Since early 2011, President Obama hasn’t been able to host many bill-signing ceremonies. After two years in which the White House made arguably historic progress on its agenda in 2009, Congress hasn’t achieved any major legislative accomplishments since Republicans claimed the House majority. But some bills still manage to get through both chambers, and though the farm bill hasn’t always risen to the level of major legislative breakthroughs, Obama and his team nevertheless decided to host a big event in East Lansing, Michigan, today to sign the new $956 billion farm bill into law.

The president won’t be joined today by any Republicans, though it’s not for lack of effort. The White House press secretary, Jay Carney, said that about 50 lawmakers — including many Republicans — had been invited to the bill signing, but that no Republicans had accepted the invitation. […] the fact that every Republican invitee declined the White House’s offer should send a pretty loud signal to those Beltway pundits who still believe Obama would thrive in Washington if only he schmoozed more.

Republican Sens. Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, along with other top congressional GOPers, have urged a federal court to block Obamacare subsidies for people who signed up for coverage through HealthCare.gov. The group of eight — which includes Senate Minority Whip John Cornyn, Sens. Orrin Hatch (UT), Mike Lee (UT) and Rob Portman (OH) along with Reps. Dave Camp (MI) and Darrell Issa (CA) —

filed an amicus brief Thursday on behalf of businesses and individuals who sued to stop the subsidies from flowing through the federal website, the Washington Times reported. The case, being heard in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit next month, centers on whether people can receive tax subsidies through the federal website, HealthCare.gov. A federal district judge rejected that argument in January, ruling that subsidies should continue to be delivered through HealthCare.gov, which sent the case to the appeals court.

Think Progress: Texas Man Pays Off Students’ School Lunch Debts So They Can Keep Eating

After he heard about the children in Utah whose school lunches were thrown out because their parents were behind on payments, Kenny Thompson was worried about the elementary school kids he tutored and mentored in Houston, Texas. So he went in to check whether they were getting the proper nutrition. “I’m like, ‘Wow. I know that’s probably a situation at my school, and the school my son goes to, and the other schools I mentor at.’ So I came in and inquired about it,” Thompson told local station KSDK.

What he found disappointed him: Dozens of students were on “reduced” lunches, receiving cold peanut butter and jelly or cheese sandwiches instead of the full hot meals they used to receive, all because their parents had fallen behind on lunch payments that amounted to mere 40 cents a day. So Thompson took action. He forked over $465 of his own money and zeroed out the balances on over 60 students’ accounts. “These are elementary school kids. They don’t need to be worried about finances. They need to be worried about what grade they got in spelling,” Thompson told station KPRC.

These media people have totally lost all semblance of ethics. Thanks Nerdy Wonka for this tweet that exposes Ronan Farrow’s blatant, and unethical, tweet aimed at perpetuating the “false equivalence” myth about political parties.

Wonderful pushback and it is the truth that Dems did what they could.
I cannot claim that Sen Amy Klobuchar was accurate—-how would i know—- but here is what she said:
The cuts to SNAP are much less severe than they appear to be .
The reason is that cuts were made only in states that have other programs that will be able to pick up the slack. Like her state Minnesota, claimed Sen. Klobuchar.

I agree with Farrow. What is it the Dems go to the wall for? Ring the alarm, fight the fight even if you lose. There was no better opportunity to talk about income inequality. Yes, there was a smaller cut to food stamps, but there was a raise for corporate farmers. While Republicans wanted all kinds of qualifiers for food stamp recipients…drug testing, name publications, etc., the bill contains a law against revealing who billions in insurance subsidies are paid to.

They want to cut food stamps, fine…but where is the argument that they cut the benefits to the well-off? Democrats always behave as if their choices are between “the devil and the deep blue sea”.

The argument , of course is that the price of milk will soar and people won’t be able to afford it. Really? They’ve been negotiating this bill for two years with all kinds of temporary fixes. Besides, Americans need a wake-up call, but as usual Democrats fear they will be held responsible…it’s about them, not the people. Ronan Farrow is right…it’s a joke.

It is great to be an idealist when one can easily afford a $1.5M unit at the tender age of 24/26? If this is what this guy will be doing, overly simplistic and living in a lavida loca land? Then his show will go up in smokes.

Commonsense is a Virtue. If this guy lacks it, then that is a shame for he would have been another overly smart guy with nothing, but platitudes. He would do better being a writer, a professor or a film maker where THEORIES and IDEALISM Thrive.

Doesn’t President Obama have the best smile? It’s so contagious—–one has to smile in return.

In other news—-I see the Ft. Lee mayor said he was courted for months for his Christie endorsement, promising pot hole repairs and shuttle busses, plus other niceties —-quid pro quo—-during the courtship. And then when his endorsement was not forthcoming—-bam!—-lane closures.

Perhaps, he is speaking up now for The $1B project is now safely contracted out? Since this mayor wants to be known for this developing project alone……….This has been going on since Sept 2013 and Now he has found the Courage?

I see the sad news that Billie Jean King’s mother has died. She made the right decision in deciding to withdraw from the U.S. delegation to the Olympics because of her mom’s failing health, as she was able to be at her side.

I had the opposite of this room last night. My smoke detectors went off for a count of around ten every hour all night. By 7 am I was very tired, but that is when they went off and kept blaring . I got dressed quickly and went next door to my brother’s. He took all the smoke detectors out and even though the batteries had years left on them I will replace both the batteries and the smoke detectors as soon as I can safely travel since we are in the middle of a snowstorm.

And can’t believe as soon as this Knoller tweet showed up, some hater goofball was ready to pounce with a negative comment——about creating a rush hour traffic jam. What’s wrong with these people?—-maybe they need a hot fudge sundae—-or something to bring a little joy into their lives.

At local hotel, Pres Obama drops-by reunion of former Ambassadors who served during his presidency.

Knoller sends out these seemingly innocuous tweets, knowing fully well that one or more of his rabid followers will have a negative reaction! He never corrects them when they respond poorly – in fact he seems to delight in it….

Truly shameful that majority of Caucasian Women are the ones doing this. The sad thing is that many women today have a Complex and that complexity is totally geared to One Man…..since 2009…..pres Obama. Note that since 2008, the majority of those on Video saying awful nasty bigoted nonsense have been elderly or middle aged White women.

Elderly women used to be the Core group of Dems. Since 2008, that has drastically changed.

I think elderly bigoted white men have a fair portion of those with the nasty bigoted story – and not sure where “elderly” starts but Sarah Palin has been the highest profile woman to throw out racist bigoted lies about the President since 2008.

On the other hand, Nena, in my experience through the 2008 and 2012 campaigns, elderly white women made most of the calls and knocked on the majority of doors. They worked long hours for PBO and helped get him elected and they stolidly supported him through all of the little setbacks that had some people running around crying DOOM. There are stupid women just as there are stupid men, but there are a LOT of bright progressive, “older” women who truly “get” it when it comes to our president.

“On the other hand, Nena, in my experience through the 2008 and 2012 campaigns, elderly white women made most of the calls and knocked on the majority of doors”

That was also my experience here in San Diego, CA, JackieG. The most dependable and dedicated phone callers were both Black and white middle-aged and older women. They were also the most optimistic and positive. We need to be careful about buying into stereotypes based on some of the deluded characters prominently figured by our unethical media.

Indeed Chips. And I hope the Jodi Kantors and WHPC’s take note – you cannot “stage” that can kind of atmosphere. It is spontaneous human reactions. People are not smiling just to pose for the cameras, or to pretend for the media that they are happy – they are smiling because their spirits are genuinely uplifted in the presence of our President – even the ones that are completely out of camera focus are smiling – you can see the smiles on their distant and blurred faces.

People close to Gov. Chris Christie (R) swear he had nothing to do with a heavily mocked memo that was circulated by his office about the bridge scandal.

A report in Politico on Friday claimed Christie had no knowledge of the memo, which attempted to discredit David Wildstein, a former ally who has said through his lawyer that he is prepared to turn over evidence against the governor.

The report, which was attributed to “two people familiar with the matter,” said the widely -criticized memo was sent “earlier than planned” and included lines referencing Wildstein’s behavior in high school that were “tucked” in by “someone.”
////

So The Emperor ha No Clothes? He is Clueless of what his personal staff are doing? Hmm?

Who will be the first fool to ask about Pres Hollande’s family relationships at the news conference?
Who will then ask the Pres Obama about Benghazi! the IRS, health care – and 300 other things that have nothing to do with US/France relationship?

“For me, the decision to run or not run is going to be determined by me as to whether I am the best qualified person to focus on the two things I’ve spent my whole life on: giving ordinary people a fighting chance to make it and a sound foreign policy that’s based on rational interest for the United States,” he said. “Where we’re not only known for the power of our military, but the power of our example”..

My support too. I can imagine a President Biden very well.
If he doesn’t run, I think we here at TOD need to start thinking about other possible candidates. Let’s look beyond the Senate…..governors. attorneys general, mayors…….I’ve got a couple in mind: the Castros…..probably the one who’s mayor; Kamala Harris, Calif atty gen’l; Bill deBlasio; Martin O’Malley has already somewhat declared…….any other good Demo governors, mayors…….we’ve been ahead of the curve on so many other subjects…….I firmly believe we had an impact on the PAC that was going to concentrate on 2016, and we called them out, and now Axe is taking up the cause, and others will.

Bob Costas conducted an interview with PBO airing currently. So far, mostly interested in why he or First Lady or VP and Jill are not attending, then why he sent a “gay delegation”, now about PBO’s “icy” relationship with Putin, Obama responding that he and Putey (?) have agreements on some things, big disagreements on other things, there is actually some humor in their engagement and lots of blunt talk. Ends with encouragement for and pride in the U.S. Olympic team, says “Go USA”. Mr. dotster just said, “What other president, what other person, could handle an interview like that with such smoothness, with such ease?” And then he said, “Could you imagine Bush? It would be so embarrassing.” And of course the answer to what other president, what other person is—-no one.

To my beautiful TOD family members who are making progress during their moments of healing:
GoBrooklyn, prayers works with our hearts focused to comfort you and give you the best news from your doctors. My candles are lit for you.

MightyPamela continue to enjoy your new place and take time to rest and relax. Lots of loving {{{{{{{{{{{{{MP}}}}}}}}}} Candles on. Warm Vanilla Sugar tonight.

So happy to have our Amk back with his TOD family. Missed you, Mr. Amk.

Nath, NCLB, Fred, please know that you all are in the prayer/meditations space of my life. {{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{ Lots of loving healing hugs.}}}}}}}}}}}}}HZ

Thanks to NW, LL, Amk, Zizi, Tally, DonnaDem, Carolyn, Jacqueline O’, and all of the brilliant contributors in our TOD family. I enjoy your brilliant work daily. You allow me to keep a sweet gentle spirit within my space in support our brilliant President. We will keep our spirits fed with goodness of information and actions of great work leading us into the 2014 Elections. I love you all so dearly.HZ

I would like to see the accounts for the $million sick children that AOL man talked about – and I would like to see what the health insurer actually paid – I see so much BS in what has been said – and seriously doubt the original premise.

Someone in the “libral media” should investigate – I’m even more amazed that Christie has not been able to silence the media – cause those Corporations seem to have no problem at all. Christie must be a slow learner.

I was watching yesterday’s taped show having noticed how the commentator was saying how Putin was gaining back Russia’s prestige and power by putting on these Olympics. It felt quite strange to hear that vs the past usual American superiority message. They may have gone overboard in the past but swinging the total opposite way just seemed anti patriotic to me and out of place during the Olympics.

NW – You brought us the story and now we have a “new hero” — Kenny Thompson — “Texas Man Pays Off Students’ School Lunch Debts So They Can Keep Eating.” How’s that for a random act of kindness with immediate benefits to children? Love it. #Hero